Python in a Nutshell

Name

lseek

Synopsis

lseek(fd,pos,how)

Sets the current position of file descriptor fd to the signed integer byte offset pos, and returns the resulting byte offset from the start of the file. how indicates the reference (point 0): when how is 0, the reference is the start of the file; when 1, the current position; and when 2, the end of the file. In particular, lseek( fd ,0,1) returns the current position’s byte offset from the start of the file, without affecting the current position. Normal disk files support such seeking operations, but calling lstat on a file that does not support seeking (e.g., a file open for output to a terminal) raises an exception.